Page 44 - Wine Spectator (January 2020)

B R U C E S A N D E R S O N

My Dinner With Thelonious Monk

I banking and wine dynasty.

had dinner with Thelonious

Monk recently. Being a major
Monk Sr. was knowledgeable about
current events and politics. He also
jazz aficionado and a huge fan
had the foresight to send his son and
of his father, the late composer
and pianist Thelonious Monk,
III considers himself very fortunate to
I was thrilled to meet T.S. Monk III, a daughter to boarding schools. Monk
successful musician in his own right. I have hung out with all the jazz cats as
had just reread Robin D.G. Kelley’s ex- he was growing up and to be the sec-
cellent biography Thelonious Monk: ond-generation African American

The Life and Times of an American Orig- man in his family to work entirely in
inal (Free Press, 2009), and the music. Surrounded by music and musi-

younger Monk, whose nickname is cians, Monk III took up drumming.
Toot, figured prominently in the book. “For five years, my father didn’t say
It all came together over a new anything to me, he just let me find my

wine, Tolaini Cabernet Sauvignon To- own way, to see if I was serious about
scana Legit 2013. See, this Cabernet becoming a musician,” he says. It

from Italy, actually from Chianti Clas- helped that Art Blakey bought him
sico, is adorned with a photograph of his first drum kit and Max Roach was
Thelonious Monk from his 1962 al- his tutor.

bum Thelonious Monk in Italy. The Monks lived on the West Side
Lia Tolaini-Banville, whose father, of Manhattan, on 63rd Street. Toot

Per Luigi Tolaini, purchased an estate It all came together over a recalls walking down to Madison
in the Castelnuovo Berardenga com- bottle of Tolaini Cabernet Square Garden to catch a Knicks
mune of Chianti Classico, approached Toscana Legit, whose label game as a teenager. At that time,

the Monk family for permission to use the Garden was on Eighth Avenue
the photo. “We needed a ‘legit’ artist features a photo of Monk. between 49th and 50th streets, co-
to confirm that this Cabernet Sauvi- incidentally now the location of

gnon that doesn’t get enough recogni- One Worldwide Plaza, which today
tion because it’s from Chianti Classico is a legitimate quality houses the headquarters of Wine Spectator.
wine,” she says. So what about the wine? The Cabernet Sauvignon for Legit

“When Lia told me this is a cool photo and a ‘legit’ wine, I usually finds its way into the blend Tolaini labels Toscana Valdis-
thought it was a great idea,” recalls Monk. anti. As the lots of 2013 were aging in barrel, Tolaini-Banville

Monk’s father, who started his musical career in the 1930s and thought some of the Cabernet was special and also needed to age
is now widely regarded as an original genius and one of the fa- longer before being bottled. It was bottled separately, and the
thers of bebop, a style of jazz that emerged in the 1940s and ’50s, Tolaini team felt it needed a distinctive label.

struggled to earn the respect of critics, recording companies and Tolaini-Banville’s Texas regional manager found the photo of
music publishers. Yet he was widely appreciated as an innovative Thelonious Monk. The Monk family gave its permission to use

composer and pianist, both loved and respected by his peers, the image, and Legit was born. It’s not the first time the Monk
among them John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Art estate has been used to market an alcoholic beverage. North
Blakey and Bud Powell, according to his son. He had grown up Coast Brewing makes a Belgian-style abbey ale called Brother

in the tradition of stride piano and learned from some of the Thelonious, a playful nod to the Trappist monk tradition of
greats, such as James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion” Smith and brewing. Legit (94, $45) reveals the characteristic black cur-

Art Tatum. He listened to classical music and opera and also rant flavor of Cabernet Sauvignon, along with wild herb and
drew from the gospel idiom for some of his compositions. earth notes from Tuscany.
Monk drank wine and he particularly enjoyed dining while on Monk’s unique compositions are known for their angular notes

tour in Europe in the ’50s and ’60s. He did have a peripheral and dissonant harmonies. Now with six years of age, the Caber-
connection to wine through his longtime friend and benefactor, net Sauvignon Legit shows no sharp edges; it’s beginning to mel-

Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, the youngest daughter of low nicely. DAVID YELLEN
Nathaniel Charles Rothschild of the London branch of the Senior editor Bruce Sanderson has been with Wine Spectator since 1993.

40 WINE SPECTATOR • JAN. 31 – FEB. 29, 2020